1. ASSESSMENT OF FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION

2. SIZE OF THE SPECIAL TARGETED GRANT FOR FUNDING “STUDENT’S BASKET” IN 2002 State Control Office. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION 2002 special target grant for student’s basket funding 1,047.4 mln LTL State budget appropriation Special target grant assigned for local governments

3. Structure of Student’s Basket For 2002 the size of student’s basket was set as LTL 1,521 For 2003 the size of student’s basket was set as LTL 1,538 For 2004 the size of student’s basket is planned as LTL 1,555 Student’s basket size = LTL 1, 555 State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION For school management, pedagogical, social, and psychological support, school library LTL 439.8 Teachers’ training LTL 13.5 Training facilities LTL 6.3 Textbooks LTL 31.5 Teachers’ salaries LTL 1,063.9

4. RATIO: TOTAL FUNDS FOR STUDENT’S BASKET PLANNED BY THE MINISTRY AND ESTIMATED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOLLOWING THE CALCULATION METHODOLOGY State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION 2002 2003 / 000 LTL

5. IN 2002 LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HAVE ALLOCATED THE FOLLOWING FUNDS FOR STUDENT’S BASKET OF A REFERENCE STUDENT State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION Student’s basket size approved by legislation Alytus municipality Kėdainiai municipality

6. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS: Ministry of Education and Science: -When preparing students basket funding projects for municipalities the Ministry have envisaged to allocate more funding than it was calculated by municipalities and more than it had to be allocated according to the Methodology for Calculating students Basket Funding and students Units; -Have not ensured equal conditions for funding and competition of state and municipality general education schools. Legal acts do not clearly define criteria for redistribution of students basket funding. This provides for unequal schools funding conditions: separate schools were allocated by their founders up to 55 % less students basket funding than they had to get according to the Methodology for Calculating students Basket Funding and students Units. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION

7. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS: As a result of implementation of the new procedure for funding general education schools municipalities were allotted more funds for education in municipalities general education schools: in 2002 - 64,7 million Litas more than in 2001, in 2003 – 2,0 million Litas more than in 2002. However this haven’t ensured greater effectiveness of general education schools funding: –Legal acts provide the founders and head teachers of general education schools with possibilities to use the funds that were allocated for education for environment and other educational needs. Student’s basket funding in municipalities in 2002 was used for funding environment and other educational needs in the situation when general education plans approved by the Minister have not been implemented. In average in the country in 2002-2003 school year 18 % of complementary education hours were not used; –Municipality Councils allotted 47,4 million Litas less student’s basket funding in 2002 than it was approved by the 2002 Law on State Budget and Municipality Budgets Indicators. Municipal general education schools used 49,9 million Litas of student’s basket funding for funding of environment and other educational needs. –As a result of saving student’s basket funding certain schools in 2002 and 2003 made larger classes in some cases exceeding the maximum allowable number of students in a class. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION

8. STUDENT’S BASKET FUNDS ALLOCATED AND USED IN 2002 State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION LTL 1,047.4 mln LTL 47.4 mln LTL 1,000 mln LTL 49.9 mln LTL 997.4 mln LTL 0.1 mln Ministry of Education and Science shall monitor whether education plans are fulfilled in case funds are used for other purposes General education plans were not met. 18 % of complemen- tary education hours were not used In 2002 Special Target Grant for student’s basket funding Transfer to local governments Funds for education approved by municipalities Schools have used for education Unused student’s basket funds returned to the budget Municipalities have allocated for educa- tional environment and other education needs Schools have used for educational environment and other education needs

9. STUDENT’S BASKET FUNDS: PLANNED, ALLOCATED, AND USED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF JONAVA REGION IN 2002 State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION 1. Student’s basket funds estimated according to the Methodology. 2. Student’s basket funds wrongly calculated according to the Methodology when incorrect factors were applied. 3. Drafted needs for Student’s basket funding submitted by the Ministry of Education and Science to the Ministry of Finance. 4. Special Target Grant assigned to Jonava region for student’s basket funding. All allocated funds have been received. 5. Part of Special Target Grant that has been actually used for students’ education. 6. Part of Special Target Grant that has been actually used for covering debts of educational institutions. 7. Part of Special Target Grant that has been actually used for education environment and other needs funding (salaries of supporting staff, acquisition of fixed assets, other educational needs). PLANNING ALLOCATION USE

10. AVERAGE AMOUNT OF FUNDS USED FOR EDUCATION OF A REFERENCE STUDENT IN 2002 State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION Funds allocated for education of 1 student Funds used for education of 1 student Funds allocated for education of 1 reference student Funds used for education of 1 reference student LTL

11. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS The funding principle „funding follows student“ is not being fully implemented: settlement between municipalities in 2002 was not carried out in time and not in all the cases of transfer of students from one municipality to another as well as between the schools within one municipality. The Methodology for Calculating students Basket Funding and students Units does not in all the cases provide for equal funding conditions for the schools with similar number of students. In our opinion there is a risk that reform objectives might not be fully achieved. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION

12. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENT’S BASKET FUNDS CALCULATED ACCORDING TO THE METHODOLOGY FOR VILLAGE AND TOWN SCHOOLS OF THE SAME SIZE Kaunas reg. Šilenava school (village) Kazlu Ruda school “Elma” (regional centre) Student’s basket calculated according to the Methodology (Student’s basket size LTL 1538) Municipality plan for 2003

13. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION RATIO FOR A VILLAGE SCHOOL: STUDENT’S BASKET SIZE / NUMBER OF STUDENTS (student’s basket size = 1 555 LTL) Number of pupils in a village primary school Student’s basket funds (LTL)

14. PROPOSALS FOR THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCHIENCE HIGH PRIORITY: 1.Identify clear stages of general education schools funding reform, determine period for the implementation of the aims of reform as well as objectives to achieve the established aims and criteria for evaluation of their implementation. 2.Initiate amendments to legal acts to define use of unused special targeted grant funding for other educational needs when planning and implementing budget only in the case of full implementation of general education plans. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION

15. PROPOSALS FOR THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCHIENCE HIGH PRIORITY: 3.Having considered possibilities and necessity submit proposal to the Government concerning development of general education schools funding programme that would be implemented by the Ministry itself. Allocate general education schools students basket funding via this programme. 4.Ensure that calculations of student’s basket funding allocated to municipalities from special targeted grant in the project that is submitted to the Ministry of Finance were carried out following the Methodology for Calculation of students Basket Funding and Units of students. Ensure control of calculations of the number of students units and students basket funding in municipalities. Use students database to carry out calculations of students basket funding. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION

16. PROPOSALS FOR THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCHIENCE OTHER: 1. Analyse use of student’s basket funding by municipalities as well as the implementation of general education plans to ensure effective and efficient use of student’s basket funding. 2. Achieve establishment of the uniform funding procedure for all the general education schools. 3. Initiate amendments of legislation establishing clear criteria to be followed by founders of general education schools in redistribution of student’s basket funding among schools. 4. Work out a procedure for recalculation of student’s basket funding in the beginning of the school year. 5. Initiate and together with the Ministry of Finance develop procedures of mutual clearing between local governments and municipal schools in case of student’s transfer to another school. 6. Prepare amendments to the Methodology for Calculation of Student’s Basket Funding and Units of students to provide equal funding conditions to schools with the same or similar number of students. State Control Office__________________________________________________________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL REFORM IN GENERAL EDUCATION